Key Committees

House and Senate committees play a critical role during the session. Usually, legislation receives a more comprehensive vetting during committee hearings, including public testimony in support or opposition of each proposed measure. Committee hearings also feature ‘expert’ witnesses selected by the sponsor who can respond to committee questions, as well as greater opportunity for the discussion, negotiation and adoption of amendments. All committees play a role in environmental policy, but to widely varying degrees. These selections simply reflect committees that cast votes on at least two priority scorecard bills that didn’t reach their respective chamber floors for a full House or Senate vote.

House Agriculture & Water Resources

For many years, the Agriculture & Water Resources Committee (HAGC) has been dominated by big agricultural interests. Given the name and scope of the committee, this may not be surprising. Unfortunately, it seems as if too many committees are stacked in favor of big polluting interests, and there are few committees where broader public and…

House Business & Industry

Historically, the House Business & Industry Committee (HBIC) has been a significant hurdle to common-sense public and environmental health policy in New Mexico. Like some other constituency-driven legislative committees, the membership is heavily oriented towards big corporations: polluting industries, major utilities, pharmaceutical companies, alcohol and tobacco interests, and more. Chaired by Representative Debbie Rodella, this…

House Energy & Natural Resources

The House Energy & Natural Resources Committee (HENRC) has traditionally been a stalwart defender of a safe and enriching environment for all New Mexicans. Because of recent shifts in the membership of the House, HENRC has changed quite dramatically, and frequently finds itself deadlocked on proposed legislation. The effect is that, while many pieces of anti-conservation…

Senate Conservation

The Senate Conservation Committee is responsible for almost every issue that touches on our environment: energy, air quality, water, wildlife, land use and more. Chaired by Senator Bernadette Sanchez, the committee—somewhat ironically—is not known for its genuine conservation values. Although some positive legislation does emerge unscathed, most significant proactive environmental bills are doomed to failure…

Senate Judiciary

The scope of work for the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) is extremely broad, covering all aspects of constitutional, statutory and administrative law. All of these are relevant to conservation policy, so advocates spend a lot of time in front of this committee. Chaired by Senator Richard Martinez, the Judiciary Committee is one of the more…